Notes from Oct. 2013 group

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M.L. STEDMAN

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

This was a well-written story with a timeless, original plot full of moral problems.  Our group had all come up with possible endings to the novel so the actual ending was a surprise.  We thought the characters were realistic and enjoyed all the necessary background details of lighthouse keeper’s personal history, his job duties, and the island itself.  This book generated very good discussions.  Almost our entire group loved this thought-provoking story and would recommend it to others.